Brief Description

SoftSelect represents a certain process will be followed when its tools, methods, and research are used in the selection of any enterprise or business software. If this process is not used then service quality to the client is reduced, our reputation suffers, and collaboration options we have for software vendors become compromised. Toward the goal of increased quality usage we make available a process for software vendors to track leads for which they know our process is being used, report irregular usage of the SoftSelect process, and gain structured and accurate feed back on why their software package was promoted or no longer considered. Competent and unbiased consultants in the SoftSelect network find this environment of open activities effective and non-threatening. Incompetent or biased consultants do not and are uncovered.

Discussion

The following are SoftSelect’s goals in providing prospect tracking and feedback options to software vendors:

Support Software Vendor's Objectives: Software vendors with solid and competitive offerings want a balanced sales environment to present products and services. They want to know their status with a lead and welcome constructive and organized feedback on the perceived suitability of their product/service for a specific end user and on the effectiveness of their sales effort. Also when software vendors understand how the SoftSelect selection process works, when used correctly, then they improve their ability to interface with prospects using this process and close more sales.

Further Improve the Execution of the SoftSelect Selection Process: SoftSelect has mature and formalized methods, reinforced by project planning and management software, to manage selection projects. Through our web site (www.softselect.com), printed literature, and in presentations, we explain the details and quality of this process to end-users. A by-product of this process is highly organized information about all reviewed software’s performance relative to the specific end user’s priorities. If our process is not followed, this organized information is not readily available. The ability of software vendors to report apparent improper use of our process and/or request their own performance reports becomes a deterrent for sub-standard use of our tools and methods and helps us isolate non-conforming or biased consultants. This is good for SoftSelect clients, quality consultant partners, software vendors with strong product/service offerings and the general reputation of the SoftSelect process.

Software Product Research Refinement: Closer interaction with software vendors helps SoftSelect improve and stay more current on software project research we maintain. This strengthens our relationship with software vendors, which is a catalyst for software vendors participating and benefiting from other options in our vendor programs.

Review of Related Processes

To better understand options to monitor the process and obtain structured and useful feedback, it is critical to understand the SoftSelect process for listing software packages, notifying software vendors, and how the selection team reduces a long-list to a selection based on a the companies functional and qualitative priorities. 

How the Long List of Software is Developed
In SoftSelect’s Phase-1 of selection, the selection team builds a prioritized requirements and issues profile and develops an enterprise software strategy and a long-list of candidate software solutions. For software types that SoftSelect maintains research, our research experts hand-pick candidate packages for a particular end user firm based on vendor’s history selling to companies the size and type of the end user. We can readily do this as we monitor the percent of vendor sales into various company sizes, industries, and manufacturing environments. A vendor’s match to functional requirements the end user needs has no bearing on the initial candidate listing process. Consultants and end users may add to the long list other candidate software solutions that they locate through independent investigation. Generally, a typical long list contains 6-12 candidates. 

How the Software Long List is Reduced
In our Phase-2 of selection (of three phases), the consultant and end-user firm are coached to develop a list of about 20 critical functional and qualitative differentiators. The SoftSelect methodology states that any legitimate long list software candidate will be contacted in phase-2 for processing the high-level critical differentiators. 

The selection team contacts a person knowledgeable about a candidate software package to discuss the differentiators (e.g. the vendor suggested technical/sales point-of-contact). Each vendor’s answers are recorded in SoftSelect’s project planning and management software in a consistent way that enables numerical scoring and the development of a performance report for each package. When a competent team executes the process correctly, it confidently reduces the long list to 2-4 candidates.

In Phase-3, the short-list is reduced to a selection through a similar process that more thoroughly tests candidate solutions against the end user’s functional and qualitative priorities and similar performance reports are produced.

Samples of these performance reports can be downloaded at downloaded.

Program Details - Prospect Tracking Procedures for Software Vendors

To more accurately track inquiries by selection teams that use the SoftSelect process, software vendors follow these general procedures:

1. The vendor’s sales team should be trained on how to react to a SoftSelect project they were unaware of and what to do if they have a prospect that will use the SoftSelect selection process. 

2. The selection process should move along with no signs of bias or lack of focus and the software vendor can make the best presentation for their software/services offering.

3. If there are irregularities to SoftSelect advocated process the vendor can send a structured inquiry (with certain information) to SoftSelect for review.   There are a few common reasons software venders are not contacted for phase-2 review:

   1. The selection team may obtain needed information from another source

   2. The selection project is postponed or cancelled

   3. The selection team did not follow SoftSelect advocated procedures. This increases if our consultant facilitators are not significantly involved in phases-2 and –3.

The main objectives we have are to find if our process protocols have been breached and to locate information for inquiring software vendors that gives guidance on a prospect and increases confidence in the SoftSelect process. 

Program Details - Obtaining Formal Prospect Feedback

Software vendors find it useful to obtain structured and accurate feedback on why their product was eliminated or promoted by a prospect during the selection process. Getting useful feedback is difficult, as most selections are driven by emotional, suspicious, and overwhelmed buyers with subjective priorities-or worse, by biased consultants. Even if feedback is obtained, it is likely to be marginal in value. 

SoftSelect has a means for vendors to access useful feedback with prospects that have a SoftSelect selection report in which your product is listed. Our selection process focuses on broad functional and qualitative client priorities and consistently tests how candidate packages meet these priorities. The results are captured in our project planning and management application, and weighted reports are produced to show each software package's performance. Along with verbal amplifications provided by our project consultant partners, these performance reports almost always highlight why a vendor's package was no longer considered or was promoted in a particular selection project.

The following procedures describe the formal prospect feedback process: 

1. Vendor salesperson(s) contact their firm’s SoftSelect point-of-contact to discuss a prospect for which they want to obtain feedback.

2. The vendor’s SoftSelect point-of-contact communicates to SoftSelect the prospect's name and a SoftSelect project number is given if known. This is done per a consistent and manageable process the main point of contact is trained on. The person inquiring must be our main sales point-of-contact and not a salesperson, VAR, or other entity.

3. SoftSelect contacts the consultant partner and checks the status of the project and specifically the Phase-2 and/or Phase-3 performance reports for the vendor. If our advocated processes were not followed the quality of the information for the feedback briefing is reduced or non-existent. This typically occurs when:
   

   1. The end user firm takes over the project after phase-1 (requirements and issues profiling and the development of the long list). SoftSelect makes this option available as a mechanism to start projects and then attempts to upsell full services.

   2. Consultants are not paying attention or are biased. SoftSelect has been in a long-term process to standardize system use by competent consultant partners and this step further highlights marginal consultants.

4. If the performance reports are not available, SoftSelect will call its main vendor point-of-contact to debrief what we know and suggestions for action if any. 

5. If the performance reports are available, and if required, pay a Prospect Specific Debriefing fee (see vendor services price sheet). 

6. The performance report, for the vendor's product measured, is sent to the software vendor, and a telephone debrief is scheduled with the specific sales person and consultant to provide amplifications and answer questions. If the sales person is not knowledgeable about the SoftSelect selection process, SoftSelect’s main vendor point-of-contact should prepare the sales person and/or participate in the phone briefing. Please note this is designed to be an informational brief and not an opportunity to further sell for a specific prospect. 

7. The feedback briefing typically includes: 

   1. Overview of the end user (restatement of what you would have heard in phase-2 questions)

   2. Overview of the selection process (as needed)

   3. List of software products considered and who made the short list or was selected and why

   4. Details of the vendor's product's performance in the context of other packages that were considered

   5. Comments on the vendor's sales process if any. 

8. If the vendor's sales team has concerns based on the results of the phone debrief, they may contact SoftSelect per a standard process the vendor point-of-contact is trained upon. The vendor's main sales point-of-contact must do this, as we want them to screen emotional and subjective inquiries, which compromises the effectiveness of this communication channel. SoftSelect reviews these reports and based on trends with the consultants and vendors this feedback is very useful to improve our business partners. As needed, further investigation may be conducted and as required, new information presented to the particular end user for which incorrect findings were presented. 

SoftSelect works very closely with our consultant partners. We also work with software vendors on a continual basis. Both relationships are very important and, if all parties are reasonable and forthcoming, our process works well. If consultants are capricious with our process, they will be removed from further system use. If software vendor personnel or business partners use this Prospect Feedback Process inappropriately, they will be denied further access until the problem is resolved. Tight structure and management to provide this service is necessary to make this feedback process work.

Prospect-Specific Debrief Fee: SoftSelect consultant partners serve end users with objective and comprehensive services. They are not directly paid to take the time to debrief software vendors on how their software and sale process worked. Based on this, we offer the following options: 

1. Prospect Provided by Software Vendors: Software vendors may access this prospect-specific feedback at no charge on end user leads that they provide and for which SoftSelect subsequently executes our selection process (see our prospect recovery and stabilization process details).

2. Other Prospects – Vendor Certified: For prospects not developed by a software vendor having a certified product listing, the vendor may access this prospect feedback for half of the normal fee published in the SoftSelect vendor research price sheet. 

3. Other Prospects – Vendor Not Certified: For prospects not developed by software vendors without a certified product listing, feedback may be accessed at the normal fees published in the SoftSelect vendor research price sheet.

Benefits for Software Vendors

• Accurate feedback can be obtained on why prospects and their advisors made certain selection decisions

• Possibly biased or incompetent consultants can be uncovered so vendors can either troubleshoot directly with them or take other actions

• The consistency of this type of sales debrief can reveal trends before they would become evident through normal background monitoring methods

• Irregularities in a vendor’s advocated sales process can be quickly detected